Does anyone know - if an artificial lake in an urban development has Marron in it, are there any restrictions on catching the buggers? Thanks.
Considering the marron season runs for about a month and does not specify areas at all - I reckon no. That is - it does not talk about Wellington Dam, Harvey River's tributaries, a creek in the foothills, or a man made lake in a park in Joondalup or Atwell. It talks about 'taking marron'.
Unless it is a dam on YOUR property and YOU stocked it, I would not take anything.
Fisheries penalties include asset seizure of anything related to the fishing activity- eg: your car, etc so think hard....
PLUS the possession limit could also bugger you. Does not matter where you got them, you can only possess a certain number of marron. So let's say you are allowed to catch 8 a day in season. That is great, but you cannot do that every day and have 150 in your freezer. So if you have a suburban man-made lake full of marron that you did not put there, and you can easily catch 50 of them right now and walk home..... FFS - do not.
Typical Australia - couple of years for rape or stabbing people, but a $100K fine, and no house no car, etc for taking 1 slightly undersized watercockroach.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marron
Marron is a name given to two closely related species of crayfish in Western Australia. Formerly considered a single species, it is now recognised as comprising two species, the critically endangered Cherax tenuimanus, and the species which is outcompeting it, Cherax cainii.[1][2]
Marron are considered a luxury product and are the subject of a developing aquaculture industry in Western Australia and other Australian states. Total Australian production of farmed marron was 30 tons in 1996. In Western Australia, recreational fishing for marron is tightly controlled, with a limited season, permits are required and minimum sizes are enforced.
Try to make sure it's not the critically endangered one 
The critically endangered one is the Hairy from the Margaret River watershed and seeing as how Perca Fluviatilis is now present there I'd reckon they're pretty well knackered.
As to the other species, for the most part in West Oz, they're bloody vermin. Cherax cainii are actually only endemic to the Warren and Donnelly watersheds (maybe the Shannon too??) but that doesn't stop Fisheries acting the Nazi and prosecuting all and sundry for grabbing a feed of what is essentially about as native as a 28, or a bunny for that matter.
It's laughable that you can be prosecuted for releasing the common Yabby (cherax destructor) and crucified for taking WA's own vermin aqua roach.
They need to introduce Murray Cod, Golden Perch and Oz Bass to help control this vile infestation.
#edit.... As to taking them from a metro man made lake? Don't get caught.
Marron were/are commercially farmed in Kangaroo island [South Australia] But, they have escaped and gone feral, and the locals there tell me its open season anytime you want.
so.....if you want a no red tape feed- you know where to go!
stephen
I wouldn't rely on the Seabreeze Brains Trust when it comes to fisheries legislation. Hell just having marron nets within 50 metres of the water out of season or with no license constitutes an offence. And don't rely too heavily on official 'advice' from fisheries on the subject either. Didn't a commercial fisherman get some wrong advice from fisheries up near Shark Bay a few years back and was sucessfully prosecuted by the same fisheries office when he was fishing in the wrong area based on their flawed advice???
My advice for what it's worth. If its from your own dam and you consume it on the property you can catch and eat all year round, if it's from a public water source/dam/lake/river either don't do it unless it's in season and you have a license, or, don't get caught.
No worries - sounds like I'll have to make a note to return to this one next year.
The ones I saw weren't actually in the lake, but were living in the bottom of a stormwater pipe junction pit (about 30m from the nearby and connected man-made lake). I won't bother testing to find out, but I wonder if a concrete stormwater drainage system is considered a waterway/waterbody?
I'm working in the stormwater system again next week and was going to drop a few nets in the lake while working, sounds like that's not a good idea. Although, given where this lake is (inland suburbia) I really doubt that fisheries officers are driving past very often.
One of them was reasonable size - I reckon the lake must have a heap in it.
Its probally not a good idea eating anything thats a attached to roadway/urban drainage Your 3 eyed marron would contain more **** that petermack's chem-trail aeroplanes
Assuming you're talking about Perth suburbia, you won't find any Marron at all. They're nearly all Yabbies now, though you'll still find the odd Gilgie amongst them. You won't find Coonacs up there either. There is absolutely NO restriction on taking as many of them as you wish. Keep them alive after catching, and put them in clean water at home. Leave them in clean water (change the water once or twice, depending on the size of your container) for at least 24 hrs and don't feed them anything. They'll be cleaned out enough by then to cook and eat.
I used to help a friend collect them for the aquarium trade. We'd get up 600 in a few hours at night. Fisheries inspectors checked us out several times and were completely satisfied with our catch. The only freshwater crustaceans which are controlled in WA are Marron. Yabbies are feral in WA, hence all seasons are open season.
Yabbies, Gilgies and Coonacs are all outstanding eating, and are, in my opinion, better than Marron. Down this end of the galaxy Coonacs are common in most perenniel puddles and are very drought hardy. They can last up to a decade without water.
These were pretty dark. And the bigger one was pretty big. Could well have been yabbies though I guess.
If it's a free-for-all on yabbies I might have to throw a few nets out and find out. 
Fark me I see what you mean by the seabreeze brains trust Chris.
Of course Yabbies are feral, as stated in my post and there most DEFINITELY ARE marron in metro Perth. (believe it or not there is or has also been Murray Cod, Barramundi and Australian Bass!) Be very, very careful as to what you keep.
If you need to identify your catch, best you use Fisheries own information www.fish.wa.gov.au/Documents/recreational_fishing/fact_sheets/fact_sheet_freshwater_crayfish.pdf
This afternoon I had a poke around looking for the specifics in the applicable acts and regs, holy cr@p it's a complicated beast, and I never found a definitive answer. Odds on if you are discrete about it you could throw some chook pellets and a few traps and grab a feed from this secret spot and no-one would ever need know.
But as the original post questioned the legalities of it I'd bank on it being illegal unless in season, with a license, legal size etc etc. Its a bit of a contradiction really because if they are in a man made lake they are effectively an introduced species and a pest.
I suspect the regs aren't too specific on where the marron are taken from, whether it be a river, dam, lake, storm water drain or sewerage treatment pond 
. It probably just refers to 'taking' marron (which takes us back to Mark's earlier post). it's an interesting question though, I'll keep digging and see if I can come up with a definitive answer and something to reference back to.
I once heard a story from maybe 20 or more years ago that a farmer in the Wheatbelt caught some guys poaching marron from his dam late one night. The local sergeant was quite grumpy at having to head out to the farm late at night as it is rightfully a fisheries job. Turned out it was the local fisheries guys doing the poaching, using their work vehicle and gear normally used for catching marron for research purposes. It must have been real awkward trying unsuccessfully to squirm out of that one.
As I said in my initial post Marron (Chirac Cainii) are ONLY native to the Warren and Donnelly watersheds, maybe the Shannon too. ANYWHERE else that you find them in West Oz they are an introduced species, that doesn't stop Fisheries from prosecuting for possession out of season or as stated above, having nets within 50m of the water out of season.
The only way to have Marron in your possession out of season is to purchase them from a licensed seller and have the receipt. You can't even catch them out of your own farm dam and travel with them, they must be consumed on the property.
There are marron in Perth suburbs, quite a few
The problem with yabbies is if they are put in a lake, pond waterway with marron they breed faster and kill the juvenile marron.
Within a year or two no marron will survive.
I once caught a two kilo koi in carine swamp as a kid (20 years ago)
Be interested to know if you can legally this day and age go and have a flick for fish in suburban waters?
Beaten by 2 months 
. They used to put out a nice, full colour brouchure with with all 4 of the common fresh water species (Marron, Gilgie, Coonac and Yabbie) with the main points to observe to tell the difference. Any'ow, I stand corrected.
Beaten by 2 months . They used to put out a nice, full colour brouchure with with all 4 of the common fresh water species (Marron, Gilgie, Coonac and Yabbie) with the main points to observe to tell the difference. Any'ow, I stand corrected.
I recall ,when perth had that big hailstorm a few years ago the MARRON in the canning river(whats left of it ) were all getting out of the river at camping on the bank
The short answer from a contact at fisheries is you can't take them lawfully from any place unless they are in season, legal size, appropriate license etc etc. The main exception being those on private property and consumed on that property. So no you can't legally nip down and grab some marron from the local storm water drain.
